Thomas Hood

I

A tender infant with its curtain’d eye,Breathing as it would neither live nor dieWith that unchanging countenance of sleep!As if its silent dream, serene and deep,Had lined its slumber with a still blue skySo that the passive cheeks unconscious lieWith no more life than roses—just to keepThe blushes warm, and the mild, odorous breath.O blossom…

Farewell, Life! My senses swim,

Thronging shadows cloud the light,Like the advent of the night,—Colder, colder, colder still,Upward steals a vapor chill—Strong the earthy odor grows—I smell the mould above the rose!Welcome, Life! the Spirit strives!Strength returns, and hope revives;Cloudy fears and shapes forlornFly like shadows at the morn,—O’er the earth there comes a bloom—Sunny light for sullen gloom,Warm perfume…

A Pathetic Ballad

And used to war’s alarms;But a cannon-ball took off his legs,So he laid down his arms.Now as they bore him off the field,Said he, ‘Let others shoot;For here I leave my second leg,And the Forty-second Foot.’The army-surgeons made him limbs:Said he, ‘They’re only pegs;But there’s as wooden members quite,As represent my legs.’Now Ben he loved…

The Lost Heir

‘Oh where, and oh whereIs my bonny laddie gone?’_Old Song_.One day, as I was going byThat part of Holborn christened High,I heard a loud and sodden cry,That chill’d my very blood;And lo! from out a dirty alley,Where pigs and Irish wont to rally,I saw a crazy woman sally,Bedaub’d with grease and mud.She turn’d her East,…

Full of drink and full of meat,

CHARITY’S perennial treat;Thus I heard a Pauper say:—‘Ought not I to dance and singThus supplied with famous cheer?Heigho!I hardly know—Christmas comes but once a year.‘After labor’s long turmoil,Sorry fare and frequent fast,Two-and-fifty weeks of toil,Pudding-time is come at last!But are raisins high or low,Flour and suet cheap or dear?Heigho!I hardly know—Christmas comes but once a…